Nokia’s latest budget smartphone brings the price of admission to Windows Phone 8 below the £150 mark. From today O2 will sell the Lumia 620 at £149.99 on pay-as-you-go, a bargain considering what’s inside. The network will also chuck in an additional free colour cover.
Other operators will also offer the 620: Three and Virgin …

Re: One question

I have an app on my Lumia (called Contacts Transfer) that does what it's called, via bluetooth, I think the reason you can't do it like you normally would (select contact, click "send") is because the contacts are from your social networks and email contact lists rather than how they would previously be stored as a vcard on the phone. Does make backing up your contacts pretty easy however........

Re: One question

I'm sure I read the reason you couldn't is because MS didn't implement the required part of the BT stack ? Also why you can't transfer files over BT.

I can't speak for others, but a few times I've found it useful to be able to BT a picture or MP3 to someone in the same room without using email, or MMS (which can cost). Also BT to BT is *way* more secure depending what you're sending.

Re: One question

...just another reason WP is shite ...

I just tried to google to see if this new feature is a 7.8 one, or Nokia (given that "Bluetooth Share" is a Nokia-specific app), and could find nothing to tell me if it'll help my HTC Trophy. Documentation is woeful.

I thought one of the sine-non-qua about WP was it mandated a minimum hardware spec ?

Anyway, still no reason for me to ever buy, or recommend WP to anyone.

Good value, not a bad spec, it can't be long before there are good phones sub-£100 PAYG opens up a whole new market of people who would never go for a £35/month contract or pay £400 up front for a smartphone.

I bought my smartphone 2 years ago for £100 on PAYG which had a 480x800 screen. Got the unlock code from the operator, rooted it and put on a newer version of Android. I'm still using it now and because I only use it occasionally, it'll do a weekend without charging. So many smartphones are aimed at the £400 mark that they forget there are others who'd like some of the benefits but are willing to skip the very latest hardware to get a decent price.

How much RAM?

Hopefully more than the 256MB in their other lowcost WP7.5 device, the Lumia 610, which couldn't run popular apps because it didn't have enough RAM. Most outfits would learn their lesson and ship more RAM in future, but this is Nokia, so probably not.

Re: How much RAM?

Don't forget the jury foreman

1) Glass to the edge of the device - not quite as the back cover curves up to the front.

2) Four columns of icons - only three in the pictures.

3) The colour black - black background and border - oops.

Only one of the three infringed, but I am sure Apple can find a jury foreman that can convince the others three is approximately four and they should award punitive damages for all the patents anyway even if they are not infringed. If we say $50 per device per patent and triple damages for willful infringement, I make the total fine about $4931.12 - assuming that they sell all 6 and 3=4.

Re: A bargain

Re: A bargain

"(I've not used it but been told)"

Becuase people who go on about how great/crap a product is never have a hidden agenda?

Would I buy one of these for myself? No. I love my Galaxy Note with Cyanogen on it too much. Would I buy one of these phones for my wife? Possibly, as all she wants is a phone that makes calls, does texts and runs skype.

Re: A bargain

There are other and better phones that make calls, do texts and run skype.

And YES, I have bought, used and burned a WP device. I had a horrible Lumia 800 which causes me so much grief that I started a boycot campaign against Nokia, the retailer and the repair-agent. I made a complete loss on it not to mention that the walled garden OS is so incompetent that even the most trivial things are a pain in the ass (just TRY adding a ringtone...AARRGGH)

So for me NO MORE Lumia's EVER AGAIN! Symbian is much better IMHO. And that too can make calls, do text and run skype.

Re: 7.x?

Re: 7.x?

Gotta go with Jess here.. The fact that its windows 8 makes not the slightest. A newer featureless crippled wasteland is still a featureless crippled wasteland. Course you could go buy a 2008 touch pro/diamond for £35, flash it and install hostsUI, it'll even overclock.. All the fun of the tiles, none of the Ballmerhorrea.

Or indeed you could get a belle based phone, a smartphone -as opposed to the one all new WP 'special'phone category.

Windows Phone 8 - does about half what it says on everyone else's tins...

Symbian must be spinning in its grave... What is this I see before me? An S3 rom for beagleboard...?

Re: 7.x?

Re: 7.x?

Simply compare Lumia specs to anything running symbian belle and my point she is made. Compared to Symbian, which itself came from EPOC, not-win-mo is a joke for a power user, and not-win-nt is barely better. Tv-out, winmo could do, symbian does, windows phone.. Ooh look, no go. Decent integrated 1998 grade bluetooth integration, oh failed again. USB-OTG even android can manage, WP? Nope more chance of getting a saddleback to 20,000 feet.

The most telling thing? That it all runs perfectly well on a single core processor running at less than half the speed of the quad cores needed to stop Android syrup syndrome. Not to mention inbuilt proper multitask and secure app features. Should I go on?

WP7 was based on the same CE core as Windows mobile which dates from the mid late 90s, WP8 on an NT core from the same era. Oooh look at my shiny new OS... Oh wait, is that a BSOD I see before me?

The depressing thing is that Symbian has suffered from the run to mediocrity that has happened due to IOS and 'droid. It is harder to program for because the people who developed it thought there should be some resiliance in there. The other approach is the 'hail and well met, script kiddies' one, and we know were that has gotten android, FCs, malignancy, and shutdowns galore. When Alexander the Great got to the sea it is said that he cried since there was nothing left to conquer, 10 minutes with Android programmers and he'd have thrown himself in, or gone totally postal. Mediocrity is not something to aspire to (although you wouldnt know it for looking).

Re: Not so bad

Re: Not so bad

Not to mention screen specs, wireless charging, NFC, camera, OS.

What I don't get is why in reviews it is never mentioned how it takes less time to do everyday tasks in WP than in android or iOS. Reviews are always just a feature set comparison. the Smoked by windows phone series seems to be a pretty good indication that the things you do most are easier on WP.

The new "Microsoft way"

Try as they might, nothing Microsoft does is encouraging me to give their devices a try.

They use awful irritating tunes in their TV adverts (The Lenka video and song is just too abstract for me), and the non musical ones use "celebs" like James Corden and Holly Willoughby.

Work colleagues who own Windows phones try and convince me that I'll "soon get used to the interface over time", and the lack of apps will soon change.

Sorry, but that's not a chance I'm willing to take when there's a brilliant, easy to use interface and app store already out there on the 'droids, and their phones are great value - such as the Orange Intel San Diego I bought last week for £70 from the Orange store (20% public sector discount and rest from my phone fund).

Re: The new "Microsoft way"

"They use awful irritating tunes in their TV adverts (The Lenka video and song is just too abstract for me), "

Erm... I purchased the Lenka CD after seeing the W8 adverts. Mind you i haven't upgraded to W8 yet, I would happily but not all the drivers exist for for Vaio yet.

WRT the interface, IMO Android, iOS, WP, hell even WM are pretty easy to use. App count- largely a meaningless pissing contest but yes it is true that devs are likely to focus on android and iOS first. That said as a WP user I don't lament the fact that I cant download the latest crap being hyped via social networking sites by people that are so technologically challenged that tying their shoelaces presents an issue.

As an aside, it amazes me that so little has changed since WM2003. I used to upgrade handsets regularly as a result of hardware improvements, the processors were slow, the ram expensive/volatile. Early 2007 (pre iphone) I had a 5" screen. GPS, blah, blah blah.

What can i do now on my phone that I couldn't do back then? Very little and in some respects less. The only thing has really changed is the rise of the phone fanboi...

WP 7 and WP 8 bashers

Looks nice - not sure it will be enough to compete seriously against the big guns in the market but it will make lots of owners very happy, and will certainly appeal with it's 'world around your contacts' ethos. side by side, i think virgin users looking for something premium-ish now dropping into their pricerange would 'get' it easier than an iPhone. I think thats the strength this new phone will play to.

now, WP 7 and 8 bashers...Grrr shame on you!

I got my Lumia 800 on pretty much first day release in Autumn 2011.

It was an 18 month Contract and was a Premium phone back then - by the time the 7.8 firmware upgrade breaks cover, I'll be just weeks away from a stanard renewal-upgrade to something else. I dont feel abandoned by Nokia in this regard as I paid my money and made my choice and deeep down I know phones are ultimately disposable. Likewise I wouldnt expect Ford to come and update my car engine mapping in 18 months time, and I'm ok with that. I've lived with this phone and seen all it's good and bad sides.

As such I feel entitled to opine on this handset and OS.

What i dont understand though is people who have clearly never owned a WP 7 or 8 device slagging the platform and hardware off so unreservedley.

If you've got one, 90% likely you had to take it on contract and yes, if that was recent, i can understand frustration at being lumbered with an OS which looks really similar to 18 months ago , but then you did choose buy it when there's plenty f choice on the market so it's a moot point.

I doubt there's many people at the moment who are so loaded they can buy one on a whim to try out, kept it for a month then sell it on because they couldnt live with it...

So if you are going to criticise, please do so from a point of experience, or else you like the classic fandroid / fanboi idiot.

This also goes for iPhone owners hating android even though they've never had one, and same for android owners who've avoided the applecart. I just dont get it!

Re: WP 7 and WP 8 bashers

Um... you don't need to *own* a Windows phone to know it is a bad idea.

An analogy: you don't need to own a pet to understand the responsibility that goes into owning one.

There are plenty of mobile/telco shops out there with Windows phones on display, and they let you finger and prod them to your heart's content.

Occasionally, you may also have the oddball friend who has a Windows phones. You can *borrow* his/her phone to play around with, you know? A shockingly novel idea to you perhaps?

Many of these pro-WP shills out there have this silly idea that just because you didn't purchase, or have never owned a Windows phone before, it somehow invalidates your less-than-flattering opinion of their beloved products. Or you're automatically a fan/sheep of one of the Big Two mobile camps.

Keep it up with that siege mentality. Windows phones' market share will continue to languish.

Re: WP 7 and WP 8 bashers

Good counterpoints , glad you've called me as a WP fanboy - I do like it but it's got SO much room for improvement that id shy away from accepting my fanboi award ... It has it's pretty major problems like font sizes , inefficent use of screen size, plus a minor issue THAT IT WONT CHARGE WHEN FLAT - haha need to do CPR on it (hold down on key for ten seconds, wait for the first vibrate buzz, THEN insert the live charging cable) but nothing in the phone makes me hate it.

I also have an iPhone 4s, and my wife has an Android Motorola phone.

The Moto is s-l-o-w but compact , good looking but poor for doing pretty much most things that arent games or ringing people.. But it's bullet proof, waterproof and BABY proof - we both love it.

The iPhone just drives me up the wall - i'm not suited to that style of os but the phone itself is lovely, solid and has all the features i need - again i dont hate it but dont really like using it that much for calls and sms's. i do like it for internet and as a small e-reader.... Plus, if i put it down in a client meeting , everyone i hope makes the mental connection between me, my phone, my style, my company, a certain level of associated affluence and status, and they start thinking I'm a good person to do business with.

I think borrowing a phone, yes you'd get to see the shiny side of any OS but you wouldnt get to see the grotty underbelly unless your mate let you go and muck about importing and exporting contacts and calendars on your laptop. So borrowing isnt such a shockingly novel idea to me as my comment made out ..

I'd like to think I have a fair idea of what goes into making a good application, network service, and phone hardware - for instance I worked on sending the first ever MMS's over a decade ago , using digital cameras and Nokia communicators, happy days!

I've never stuck to a platform for longer than 1 phone contract, as variety is the spice of life... Beloved as many of my exes have been, i've always gone to something new, usually as an early adopter. Seriously thinking Blackberry 10 this renewal !

I stand by my comments that 'hating' a phone without owning one is dumb , but see your point about pet ownership... you can research and get advice and compare specs and the like, and that knowledge conditions you - you'll know if its roughly right or not for your circumstances , but until you have had one in your hand for an appreciable time and SEE how your own usage gets tailored to the capability of the phone, see what it lets you do and what it stops you doing, you wont be able to say if you 'hate' it or not. reeling off a spec sheet of cans and cants just helps me decide if i should go for something or not. it doesnt shape my accquired opinion.

'Choosing' a phone is a different matter entirely - Many phones meet my requirements , but in this instance I chose the Lumia as it was black, gloriously seductive looks and relatively rare, and my mental checklist told me it could cope with my needs at the time (ring people, FB, SMS and an ok camera) - the OS has made it a pleasant journey along the way. And it's horses for courses - a friend asked me if i had a phone he could use - by this he meant exclusively iphone , he loves it and cant get on with my phone , and thats fine too :)

Re: WP 7 and WP 8 bashers

So the fact I've never owned an Android phone or run Linux desktop does not diminish the credibility of my statement that they're shoddy and not user-friendly?

Using something for a few minutes or using it day in and out are totally different. If I used Linux every day I might come to love all the things I'd have to learn, which on first impressions just annoy me.